Do yourself and your fine-feathered friends a favor, put a couple of these modern, designer birdhouses around your backyard or patio. These handsome, finely crafted, architectural birdhouse are handmade by Nathan Danials for his one-man company, Modern Birdhouse Design. The craftsmanship and style of these birdhouses is undeniable. Styles and inspirations range from brightly colored Scandinavian ski chalet (below) …

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Anyone who walks the beach these days is confronted by the appalling amount of trash in view. Whether in Florida or New York, we’ve seen everything from parts of ships washed ashore to fresh melon rinds and beer cans discarded by sloppy beach-goers and boaters. We do our bit to collect some of it, but the amount out there is really staggering.

Here’s a company on a mission to help clean up the situation – United by Blue, founded by Brian Linton, (Chief Trash Collector). Passionate about the ocean and its natural inhabitants, Linton created a sustainable business based on a line of apparel and jewelry whose sales support ocean conservation & cleanup: “For every product sold, UBB removes one pound of trash from oceans and waterways through company organized and hosted cleanups. Using this business model we are on pace to collect 100,000 pounds of trash by the end of 2011, and 1 million pounds by the end of 2012.”

In business since May 2010, United By Blue offers quality goods — organic cotton, stone washed tees; (more…)

The husband and wife team at StoneMe are insatiable rockhounds, scouring their local Great Lakes beaches for rounded stones and sea glass tumbled, shaped and polished by the never-ending action of the big lakes’ waves.

They sell most of their stones as either loose items or in groups, so DIYers can create their own jewelry and accessories. Stones are top-drilled and grouped by color, size, shape and character. Some stones (like the ones pictured directly above) may even contain fossils. Upcycling these geological gems is a great way to integrate nature into your look. (more…)